me watching this video with a RTX 270 super FE with a pigtail connector on it , card has a TDP 215 watts using a Corsair TX650 gold PSU !!!! been runing it this way for 1.5 years now .... no issues ... hmmm
I did this with my 3080 by pure instinct, and at some point I thought I was being over precautious. but decided not to change it. after this video I'm glad I did it that way.
And here's my 3080, the second 300+W GPU and about 3 years runtime (previous was custom bios Vega on water) and piggy back cable doesn't even feel warm when mining.
@@aciknaufal When installing my GPU it didn't even occur to me to use one cable piggybacked. To me it just seems counter intuitive. Also it juts looks better having two parallel cables running to the GPU.
I used two seperate cables for a 3070 build a while back and had to explain this to someone. Sure the tdp is lower than the recommendation (220) but is so close so better safe than sorry. Allows for overclocking headroom as well.
I tried it with a card using 250w and 280w and 0 diffrence. I think it might have to do with how good the psu is. I got mine since it should have been one of the best according to some psu tier list and other reviews I found.
@@tilburg8683 it also matter what the cards are doing, gaming often have some lulls in utilisation, they often don't run max wattage for the entirety of time, case cooling also factors in even, it wouldn't take much air exchange to cool the wires just enough, I'd they get a decrease in power pulled. Mining however does have the ability to run your GPU to the ragged edge 100% of the time so it's not surprising a miner managed to do this. Jay-Z two cents has also mentioned some time ago that he experienced some overclocks would work when using dedicated lines and fail on the pigtails. So considering all this I'm definitely not using pigtails for my GPU. And honestly even for lower than 225w cards I'd still just run dedicated lines if you can.
my rx6800xt uses 250w on COD and my evga 750w gold GQ is buzzing even doh its pluging in with 2 8pin cables (it are all single cables anyway) and my friend has a rx6900xt and his is usining 255w in cod... and his corsaire rm750 gold is also buzzing, but less then mine but wierd eitherway...
For mining, I totally agree. If you're not going to undervolt (please undervolt) do not use pig-tails. But if you're using your PC for normal gaming, etc., then the pigtail PCIe used on the Corsair HX would not have melted. If those are the stock cables, they use HCS (high current system) terminals, which are rated for 11A each, with 16g wire. Unfortunately, this is not true of Seasonic cables and is why they suggest not using the pigtails. Seasonic uses standard Mini-Fit Jr., which are rated at 9A each, and a thinner 18g wire.
This is good advice. Many people tend to "cheap-out" in the power supply, and forget to check this potentially dangerous scenarios. Also, even when you explain how the heat can destroy the wire, other factors do help to that as well, like a poor ventilated case or living in a hot area which bring the case internal temps up fast... all end up adding to the "thermal death".
@ExalyThor but it has issues when gpu needs to drastically generate stuff, i had problems wirh my rx7900xtx crashing in all games that had 120fps+ or rendered much terrain, it worked when i warmed up gpu and used it for some time, but when turning pc on and shortly after that going to game i kept having the issue, adding another 8pin as single instead of using the 8pin to 2x8pin, solved problem
@@ando7020 i mean 8pin that has two ends 6(2) and another 6(2) so from 8pin that goes into psu at the end u get 16pins, this made my rx7900 drivers crash in games, after switching to 3 seperate cables for 24pin (3x8 (6+2 x 3) instead of 2 (1 with 16pin end) and 8 pin (6-2) all problems disappeared No, its not cpu cable, its pcie cable, i know how to read
@@amouu_T-rex thanks for the prompt response, having said that I didn't want to offend you, I'm going to assemble my first build and I didn't quite understand one thing, almost all power supplies even those of 1000w or higher, have pcie cables for the 8pin gpu divided into 6+2 (I read on the net that only the single 8pins have 150w as specification), now do you think I should buy 3 single pcie 8pin cables separately? do the single 8pin and the "8pin(6+2) have the same specification? sorry for my english but i'm not a native speaker
@@ando7020 ah oki, no problem buddy, yes, they have same specifications 8 and (6+2), but remember that there is cpu cable, use the (6+2)pcie one, i know u know it for sure, but they are identical and they have 8 pin too on psu And try buying psu that have minimum 3x seperate pcie cables (6+2) to be sure it works well, tho i think all 1000watt psu have a minimum of 3x pcie 8 pin, but check in description to be sure, and buy gold/platinum u can save some money on the energy too, cuz the ones with high ratings have (gold/platinum) more stable energy consume, when they dont need energy they consume less than for example bronze 1000watt psu, they are more energy efficient, dont try to save money and buy cheaper psu, cuz on long run the electrical bills will be higher and u will have shittier and more unsafe psu AND CHECK Pc case, often on sites there isnt written how many cm of psu fit in it, i almost bought a big pc case that wouldnt fit my PSU, cuz my psu was too long Gold/platinum psu *some money save on electrical bills plus u are sure there wont be issue* Pc case psu maximum length Goodluck with ur build
2:20 it probably melted because there was a bad connection to the video card! I have seen electrical wiring with lose connections, the things melt, i don't really thing its a problem with the pigtail cables, but i might be wrong.
Seasonic explained why they recommend not using pigtails for 225+ watts. And you say that you don't think it's a problem? Maybe you should give a good explanation other than a "bad connection"
@@aciknaufal The thing is, the wire isn't that slim, there are multiple wires, one wire isn't gonna send 225w all by its self, we use pigtails in electrical sockets, it doesn't melt if done correctly, the only reason it would get hot is if there is a bad connection to the card or to the pigtails, or the wire being to small, but the wire doesn't seem to be the problem, they usually do a "pigtail" inside the power supply (depending on the power supply and rails) but they soldered wires in a bundle, so technically its the same as a "pigtail", this is just how I see things.
@@shadowhalo123 They are probably saying that to cover themselves, maybe their pigtail connections are poorly done or get worn, that's why maybe why they recommend to not pushing it too far ? I mean i'm not an expert ^^
@@snsayy i mean ...while you can push 225 w through 3 18awg wires I wouldn't do that...maybe through 16 awg , that's better, but if I have the option to run 2 separate cables to the you why not...heck I even do 2 * 6 pin into 8 pin so I can share the current through 6 wires instead of 3
@@snsayy trust me ..if you buy a seasonic everything is of high quality..the dudes know what they are doing...but I prefer server PSU xD look. Into delta psu , they make a sweet 1200w psu for 1U form factor..in fact I'm going to convert it for desktop use
One more thing I would like to add, is that it is not just a matter of power consumption over the cable being dangerous. Using different 8pin cables means also that, on good PSU, you will be using different +12V rails, de facto balancing the power consumption of the power supply. The power delivery would be more steady with less fluctuation and with the PFC working better and faster with more stability.(better response time when the hardware asks for more power).
Just to clarify, this was for an EVGA RTX 3090 FTW. And it melted just like the cable you displayed in your video, right at the connection point between the PSU and modular cable.
they shouldnt have given you a used PSU thats actually horrible service for them to do that and thats very unprofessional they should've given you a brand new one for replacement so dont bank on how long this PSU you have to last
I've been dealing with a 6900xt and random shut downs. I went from an 850w psu to a 1200w psu thinking it was shear power spikes. Welp, still had shutdowns. Came across a reddit poster that linked this video, said they used 2 separate cables and it fixed their issue. I said "F" it I have nothing to lose. And it fixed my issue so far. My psu is a Be Quiet! platinum efficiency. The pcie cable isn't a standard looking piggy tail, but what looks like a 5 prong end into the psu that looks like it's merged into 2 pcie 6+2 ends as if it's 2 from the exit of the psu. Even so, it seems it might be a different style pigtail cable, OR even if it's actually 2 separate sets of cables coming out of the 1 socket on the psu, the 6900xt still draws too much power from the 1 socket setup they use. Just happy I tried it. I was close to going Intel and Nvidia and blaming it on my all AMD setup.
is it fine if i have two separate piggy tailed pcie 8pin cables or do they need to be singular? i understand that there needs to be two of them seperately 100% but i have two piggy tailed cables both connected exactly like the middle one at 2:45 is that ok? or are you saying we shouldnt use piggy tailed cables period? please answer
Thanks Bryan, I just upgraded to a 3070Ti and on the back of this video have swapped out my pigtail pci-e cable for two single-plug pci-e cables coming straight from the PSU!
I have a 3080ti ftw and bought an 850w psu. The psu only comes with 2 power cables. Both of them are pigtail. The gpu has three 8pin connectors. Do I need a new psu or can I use the pigtail?
well yes and no. splitting the cable is all fine with quality reputable power supplies. however, the ridiculous power draw of 3080 and above makes it less safe when overlocking
It's only a problem when you don't have a single 12v rail. I have a Vega64 Liquid Cooled and it can use up to 400watts depending on scenario. Most of the time it's well over 350watts under load. I have had it "piggy tailed" on a 750watt power supply with a single 12v rail since 2017 without any issues. No performance issues either from doing so. Card is overclocked to 1800mhz core and 1100mhz memory with a slight undervolt.
I did this with my platinum corsair PSU. no difference but gives me peace of mind that my 2080 Ti is getting enough juice especially since it's overclocked.
I would recommend following this advice with the normal 3070 as well. My EVGA 850+ gold exploded last week on a piggytail connected 3070. While I can't be %100 certain that this was the issue, both I and my pc repair guy agreed it was the most likely problem since the PSU was only a couple months old.
Wtf dude don't scare me like that I am still gonna piggytail rtx 4070 super becuz I have no money left to buy new psu and I have no option but to use it mine is corsair cv650 btw
@@farazsiddiqui1312 rip PSU.... But for real though since that post I've tried three other Corsair PSUs and not a single one of them has lasted longer than 3 months. So either I have the most amazing lemon attracting bad luck ever or Corsair PSUs are not the most well made of devices. I switched to EVGA it's worked perfectly for almost 18 months now no issues. I don't think I'll be getting another course or PSU lol
I have a Corsair RM1000x power supply paired with a RTX 3090 FE. I bought the Corsair 12 pin cable instead of using the adapter included with the GPU. The cable helps cable management to be a lot easier since I don't have to use two separate cables. One end is 12 pin connecting to the gpu and the other end is split into two 8 pin connecting to the power supply. So far I haven't had issues with the computer. Hopefully, the one cable holds up.
No issues running RTX 2080 OC'd to 1950 MHz with piggyback for quite some time. I had it configured with a single cable for each slot, but with my last PC cleanup decided to try this out and it didn't give a single issue for the many months I pushed it nearly daily.
I actually just use extensions, but off the "main" line of any pig tail PCI-E cable to hide those cables. If I got time, I straight up have custom cables made if the PSU didn't have straight PCI-E cables.
I've never done this, always used seperate cables, thing comes from understanding current load for a given wire size. It blows my mind seeing many people and so called pros using piggy back cables. You'll get cleaner more stable voltage supply. And will proberley fix some issues people have with crashing under load or overclocking
Just in the process of building my computer - and I was stuck till I came across your video. Thank you so much for the explanation on what and what not to do! I just subscribed!
What if there are 3 of those but my PSU only has 2 cables with 2 8 pins each??? WTF do they sell it with only 2 cables if their product is not for low end cards.
When I bought my 3090 with 3x 8-pin PCI-E, I didn't bother to route an extra PCI-E cable through my system because I had already routed everything and it was looking clean. So I piggytailed the 2nd cable. It has bothered me for a while, and I've been trying to reassure myself that it's probably going to be okay. But thanks to your video and a few other commenters here, I just spent 40 minutes rerouting cables and adding the 3rd cable. So thanks for that.
I had a fire inside a computer a few weeks ago, due to a SATA power cable that had some dirt or corrosion inside it. I never gave it an extra thought, one evening my daughter pointed out that it smelled (smelled like burned electronics) funny, thought it was my AC so i turned it off. Everything seemed fine. The pc was turned off (im so happy i did that). Next day the smell came again, and a minute later the pc was blowing smoke out the back. Pulled the cables, brought it out on my balcony and opended the side panel. Small fire in the 5.25" bay as thats where the cable where tucked in. Im glad i was home.. I was able to reuse most of it, but the ash/black stuff of the insulation has covered some parts and they smell. Gotten better now after i cleaned it. I thru away the case and the PSU. But it really got me thinking!
So can I use 1 cable + 1 pigitail cable to fill all the 3 PCIe slots on an rtx 3080 strix? Or should I use 3 cables? I don't have an extra PCIe cable and Corsair doesn't sell them separately in my country. I have the Corsair rm850x 2021 edition.
But my 3080 12 gb has 3 VGA SPOTS, 3! Does this advice apply when using 1 pigtail and 1 non pigtail to cover the 3 spots? (a clean looking install right?) I doubt it, that should supply about 500 watts as in most powersupplies the vga 1 and 2 spots are at separate levels.
Actually, it is down to cable specification. So it is Seasonic specific. Other manufacturers, are not necessarily need to use single cable, if they use a cable that can carry a full 300-400W power. The reason Seasonic recommend that, is because you split 300W burden to 2 cables, let's say, 150W each? Take or give some.
Can I cut the pig tails off and use electrical tape or sleeves on them? Or can I just use the pigtails from the separate cables and tuck the rest back in the case?
I have an RM850x power supply which is supposedly supposed to be good. When I first installed my RTX 3080 my computer would randomly power off during load. I changed from the using the combined leads to separate leads and I've had ZERO issues since around Late Nov 2020.
hi, do you use 2 8 pins and pigtail for the 3rd 8pin connector or do you use 3 separate 8 pin connectors? my corsair rm850x only come with 2 pcie cables both has pigtails sticking out
very good topic and a not so discussed one over the internet. when i purchased my first seasonic psu that piece of information was precious , dont really know why others brands dont include that either. Cheers
I think that sone psus can run it just fine and others like seasonic or corsair can't. I used the 6+2 and either 6 or another 6+2 from the same cable for a 280w card and 250w and never had issues. I tried 2 seperate cables but they didn't change any oc results either for me.
I had to do some googling around about this a few months ago. After running my 2070 Super with one cable for a couple months. It was scary to find out, but thankfully I'm within the cutoff. But next time I do a major clean and config I'll be adding a second cable in just to be safe. It's been almost a year straight on this single cable though, not a single issue in sight. Ran a 1660ti a year beforehand, and a 570 a year prior.
I had R9 290X, with piggytail connector I didnt notice any heating of cables. Perhaps 225W seasonic claims is a bit too much conservative statement? And that PSU is still with me and working. No visible deformations on PCIE power cables. Im using Fractal integraM 750W, single rail design.
My secondary system's gfx card is so old not only does it not need a pcie connector, it doesn't even need a cooling fan! (HD4350). ;-p Needless to say it's not used for PC gaming; only stuff like running Turbotax since it requires win10 and I refuse to infect my main system with that. Also use it for retro gaming like MAME and 16bit consoles.
I've got a such old PSU which is Thermaltake Smart RGB 600W and it only has 1 pcie cable which splits into two x8. It can deliver 504W through it and in case of using with a pigtail like in your video, I don't see any problems because it can delivers up to 504W. Of course the safest way is the upgrade, but in some cases, it can be done with the specs of PSU.
I have a motherbaord with 8+4 Eps, and an RTX 3070 ti with 3x8 pin. My Seasonic Focs 750w Platinum PSU has only a total of 4 8pin CPU/PCIe connectors. What do I do? Should I get a new PSU at this point?
The very same thing happened to my cable, I can't even pull my cable out from the PSU. Connector already stuck inside, managed to pull it out after many tries. GPU being used is 3090 Ti.
Excellent video. Pretty conclusive. I just installed an 850W 80+ Platinum be quiet! Straight Power 11 PSU. It has three PCIE connectors on the PSU and includes three PCIE cables. However, two of them are single 6+2 connections and one is a dual 6+2 connector. I'm using an RTX 3070 Ti from Gigabyte with a peak power rating of 290W. The GPU requires three 6+2. I'm inclined to use all three cables. I've emailed be quiet! to see what they say. But your video confirms my inclination.
Hi, What about a a piggy tail cable that is rated at 600 Watts and has the following specs: Guage = Standard 18AWG Material = Tin-coating copper, #Wires/Diameter(mm) = 34*0.178 Max Load Current(Amps) = 8 Amps. I was told by the company that I would have no worries running a 3080Ti off this cable. What do you think? It's a specific cable that is built just for my PSU and Dell System and will not work with other systems or PSU systems. They also build a special cable for the corsair and EVGA Power supply units. The PSU in my machine is 1300 watts. Specs of other cables are: Guage = Non-standard 18AWG, Material = Copper wire, #Wires/Diameter(mm) (16-26)*0.12, Max Load Current(Amps) = 3 Amps. I'm asking this because I really have no choice with my system that only has 3x8 pin connectors on the PSU. The one 3080Ti that I have in my case has 2 separate cables going into it but I would like to add another 3080Ti using the cable I mentioned above (The 8 amp one)
As long as your wire gauge can support the power, a piggy back cable is fine, however; most power supply manufacturers do not use a wire that support full power supply wattage. Example: a 12v 350w draw on your power supply will require a single wire that can pull 29Amps, so as long as your piggy back wire is at least 10AWG you will be fine, and I am pretty sure that most power supplies have only 16AWG (even higher), which only supports 10A @ 125w of power. Having 3+ cables in the PCIe connector does not make it support more wattage/power as each wire only supports 10A, it will still get hot when it reaches peak power draw of 10A, this is why the cables burn. Check your power supplies wire gauge and go for the lowest AWG you can afford, or just use 2 PCIe connectors.
I have a Seasonic gold 650W and use two separate cables to power a 6700XT just to be safe. But it does make the case more cluttered and i am not good at routing the cables well.
That is one of the reasons why the 12VO is a good idea - the connectors are rated way higher. The PCIe spec say that you can only use the 75W from the board, + 75W from a 6 pin + 150W from an 8Pin - 2x 8Pin is currently NOT specified, so 300W is already the specified limit. Those limits are not there cause of the powersupply, the card or the wire, but the connectors them self. The mini-molex are rated for 75/150W respectively and connectors are only rated for a few cycles of pluging in and out again. The connector getting dirty, corroding or not being seated correctly can increase the resistance and the whole thing will get very hot then.
Hi brian, love to watch your channel, hope you are doing well in these hard times. I'm just wondering whats your recommendation is for Xeon CPU with AVX instruction support? because one of my fav games requires AVX to run, now I'm currently using x3450. Cheers
Two single cables going to my 850W RMi PSU for my Vega 64 also for each of the 8 pin connectors. I think it needs to be a hard spec to only have one 8-pin per cable (150W) or an 8 pin and a 6-pin (75W) but not two 8 pins
tnx for the tip , i ordered 6700xt for 330 euros sale price :) i have 800 psu gold , it have 4 pcie cables with pig tails , good to know to use separate cables for my 6700xt card when arrives
Generally manufacturers put on 3 8 pin pcie connectors on high end GPUs so that people are forced to use two separate power cable. So you can use the pigtail cable for one of your connectors
Take Seasonic 225w per 8pin. 3090's can draw crazy power, I believe some AIB cards can draw north of 500w short term on some of the OC'ed bios'. 225W X 2 = 450 plus 75 from the slot, 525. Not a lot of wiggle room if the GPU boosts its tits off.
I wished I had seen this video 5 min ago. I had an issue with a rx 6800 and my corsair rm850x power supply has 2 of those pigtail connectors. Safe to say that a combination of basic common knowledge and lack of forethought I only used one pcie cable for the graphics card which is enough for low res games but crashes on hi res ones. Had a guy point it out to me to use 2 cables instead of one. My last card was an RX580 so I had no experience with a card with two power ports
I'm getting a RX 7900 XT in less than 24 hours now, and I was wondering about this as well, I just installed my 850w PSU and it came with a bunch of 8 pin piggy back cables. I'm not sure what the total load on a single piggy back cable is, some videos says 250 watts will go through it, some says 288 watts. My 7900 XT Pulse has a TBP of 370 watts, so I'd have to get 3 cables in IF it is overclocked, but this is more of a budget high end that isn't for extreme OC. 1 Piggy back and 1 single 8 pin (250 + 150), for 3 slots might suffice so long as the GPU isn't running 24/7 like someone is mining it. It's 400 watt connection or more, and the PCI-e slot gives 75 watts as well.
Is it completely safe to use RTX 3070 with a pigtail? Usually RTX 3070 consumes 220w but the Asus RTX 3070 TUF Gaming OC Edition which I own draws 240W max. I always undervolt my CPU and GPU and by undervolting it consumes less than 200 usually stays 180w and with FPS cap of 144 it reduces further to 150w. So can I use a pigtail cable? Actually I want less of a cable mess.
Just learned about this today. I hope I didn't destroy my 3080 since my PSU killed itself already from the single 8 pin pigtail overdraw. Going to get an Sf750 tomorrow with two 8 pins and hope everything works out 😭
I've been running my 3090 with 2 cables with a pigtail on one of them. After watching this video I ordered another cable. I also hope I didn't kill my gpu.
Theoretically, an 8 pin psu connector can supply power up to 288 watts depending on the molex cable configuration. But basing on the standard config, it could only be up to 216 watts. Could be possible that the GPU killed your PSU due to too much power drawn out from that 8 pin power connector.
Hi Brian. I have a 6700xt from powercolor. I power this with a evga supernova 550w. Should I use two cables? Normally with radeon chill it is pretty tame power wise and i usually keep the numbers under control. Thanks and also thank you for the video.
Can i use the pigytail instead of the main one ? The 12 cable just doesnt want the main one. Ive tried with both cables im using. So 2 cables, no main connected on one but the pigytail
Feels good to know I was already doing the Safer connection. I dont even like Y-Splitters because it just doesnt make sense to me. "how is it safe to use these and not expect issues with melting" :D 14 years of IT Support, never knew that this was the "Recommended" method :D
this video helped me a lot, there's a big misinformation roaming around about this, I was in panicking thinking that I would have to change my power suppy, but now I can rest assure that I can use the pigtail on my 3070 220w
Weird thing is though from every massive problem I have seen, its always the modular connection point, the gauge should be fine, though what I feel is the actual connection points are where the problems come from. Perhaps not large enough?
I'm using a pigtail 8 pin PCI-E power cable on 2080ti. 275watts tdp and it's alright. I am using since it's sfx case, i have to save some space. If you are using 3080 or something above 300watts ofc you have to be ready for that power draw with your psu. No surprise here.
I have run my Seasonic Platinum 1000W through it's paces for the last 5-6 years, and it certainly wasn't new when I got it. It was running overclocked 290xs and a 4820K,then a R7 1700, now a 3900x with a Radeon VII, have not experienced any shut downs due to the power supply as far as I can tell. Now I would feel the point about fried cables is invalid, if people weren't complaining about fried cables when running 290x's, which have a 290W TDP (lol ironic) on a 8+6 pin connector, on piggy back, which I did up until my upgrade. If people were documenting that then I would say your point is valid and something I would consider doing. But I'm on the fence.
why corsair are the best, the gauge cables on their psu is rated for higher current flow. so therefor you can use one pci cable with piggy back to run high voltage cards. cheap psu uses lower gauge wiring and you can feel the flex in the cables to give you a understand how cheap or quality a psu
So does that explain why my Zotac RTX 2070 AMP Extreme GPU is causing the ARGB lights to flicker whenever I am overclocking and gaming??? Using a Cooler Master Masterwatt 750W 80 Plus Bronze semi-fanless modular PSU.
I got a good deal on an Aorus RTX 2070 Super and I use 2 separate cables, just in case... thought about using the piggytail but I rather be on the safe side. Thanks for the video!
thanks, this video really help me. got decent PSU but lack of PCIE cable. after watch this i can run dual GPU with daisy chain cable safely (GTX 1070 Ti (180 W) + RTX 3070 (220 W))
I was running a pigtail on a 3070 gigabyte Aorus master. Not a Ti. It actually draws 280-300 watts. I’ve seen it go up to 305 watts a couple times before, when the boost clock ramps way up loading into a game and the GPU hasn’t fully warmed up yet. Sometimes I would see these weird microflickers in game textures. Almost like when you try to film a TV with an old camera and you see the little dark flickers….kinda like that except it was little dark flashing artifacts around certain textures in games, barely noticeable but it was wierd. Even heard small changes in the coil whine pitch when the artifacts would appear and disappear. Then I read about running 2 separate cables. Thank god I didn’t fry my video card
I just made up an 8 pin GPU harness, to use in a semi modular OCZ PSU given to me that I have been using with a 6 pin GPU and did not come with an 8 pin harness. This is for the some day I might get hold of an 8 pin GPU. The 2 components I used was the 8 pin harness taken off a dead non modular ATNG pos PSU and what is actually a CPU power splitter (V shaped) harness that I bought from Newegg. The sole reason I bought it was bc the connector design matched the one needed to plug into the PSU. It was just a matter of me taking one of the branches of the "V" I needed, then moving all but one of the black wires/pins and all of the yellow wires/pins in that CPU connector. (This is why we read about some folks shorting things-they confuse a CPU power connector with GPU to PSU connector-their wire layout (ground and power or black and yellow) is the inverse of each other essentially.) Once moving the right wires to the right positions on what was a CPU meant connector, it was just a matter of soldering yellow to yellow and black to black (had to paint 1 yellow from the CPU connector black to match the 3 yellows and 5 blacks used for the GPU power cable). Then heat shrink on all wires (and one each on all the yellows and all the blacks); test with multimeter to ensure proper continuity to the right places/pins, finding next to zero resistence on each wire and now all set. Much harder to do with all black wires but easily doable with yellow (12V) and black (ground) wires to work with.
Same here when I had my 5700xt first card i owned that needed dual 8 pins. I did not like the idea or the look of having just 1 cable powering so for the hell of it scents I can also fit it in my case I bought 1 2nd power supply dedicated to the GPU alone and now I feel its getting nice clean power with its 2 cables and yes i know a 2nd power supply is overkill but my first main power supply was from when this system was a lower end build 500w and did not want to rewire anything so 2nd power supply was out of sheer laziness lol
hi, can i use the piggy tail with my coolermaster sfx850 for my 3070ti rog strix that requires 3x8 pin connector but my psu only has 2 8 pin cable , so should i use the piggy tail ( daisy chain idk) or should i buy another cable from cooler master?
Thanks for this video Tech Yes City. I had the single cable connected. Now I have 2 cables connected to my psu that go to the GPU with one pair of each. Thanks for warning us. I thought the single cable would be sufficient and so like this video tells, it isn't. I had no huge instability issues, but there were sometimes weird instabilities that I couldn't understand why they were happening. I'm typing this from the same machine.
I just let my 5700 go nuts and it didn't really make it past 200 Watts, sooo... 🤷🏻♂ Not necessary at that level of GPUs, I suppose, as Seasonic is speaking of abover 225W. - Perhaps if it was an XT-version, then I suppose it might start becoming necessary, but I've read that they can even handle up to 300 Watts well, at least with a good quality 8-wire cable.
im a little confused. new to the pc game. so basically the cables from the power supply the pci cables. i have two plugged into the gpu is that not right? or should i buy like a adapter? im so confused
Just built my new pc and have a 3070ti with 850w superflower leadex iii. I have two separate pcie cables going to it but I'm using the piggyback plug instead of the main plugs since they are two short. Is this OK or should I get a new power supply?
So what if I only have two cables, both with pig-tails. but my GPU has three 8-pin connectors? Do I leave one of the 8-pin slots open? I still technically meet the power standards (300-350w card) and if each cable is capable of handling at least 200-250w, then I should be good enough, even if I have to piggyback one of the connectors?
A bit scary but I’m using an rtx 3090 (vision, only 2x 8pin)with an pigtail cable and an 650w Corsair psu since a year and had no problems at all. Good that I’ve seen this video I’m gonna order a 1000w power supply today and don’t use my setup till it’s arrived. Thank you
So what about 3 slot gpu’s ? I have a 3090 I just got and my PSU came with three pcie cables that are the pig tail ones … should I use all three ? Or two and use one of the pigtails ? Also I have a sleeved extension kit , I’m super nervous about this and have been doing research and can’t find a definitive answer anywhere … please help …
Browsed this youtube as I have some limited PSU PCIE connections. The recommendations seems to be right. With a TDP of 290, a 3070ti cannot be pig tailed. I plan to buy a 3080ti and some did have 2x8 pin configuration which is bad idea since the configuration requires 150 + 150 + 75 or 375 watts as against a TDP of 350 watts. Very close from the standard limits notwithstanding the fact there are inefficiencies in the connections itself, i.e. MB PCIE slot actual draw could only be 50 or 60 watts depending on the quality of the PCIE slot. The only assurance I can get is that the PSU 8 pin power connector can safely provide 216 watts (or even a max of 288 watts depending on the molex configurations) though the cable wires might only be meeting the 175 power draw standards (read: overheated cable wires). So for a 350 watt TDP card, better choose one with 3 x 8pin connectors though I wonder why they did not implement a minimum of 2x8 pin plus 1x6pin (450 watts power is enough) connectors for 350 W TDP.
Hi. Last year, I bought the Lian Li SP750, which only came with 2 PCI-E cables, each of which have two 8 pin (6 plus 2) connectors. I currently have a GTX 960, which only needs 6 pins, so until now, I have been using one connector on one cable. However, I'm just after buying the MSI RTX 3080 Gaming Z Trio 12Gb, which requires three 8 pin connectors. Is it alright to use both connectors (piggy-tailed) on one cable, and one connector on the other cable? If not, can I buy an extra PCI-E cable specifically for the SP750, or maybe buy an adapter for SATA to PCI-E or something, or will I have to buy a new PSU altogether? I don't want to buy a new PSU, as I've only had my current one less than a year, and I have the Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini, so I need to go SFX, which means that I'll be paying a lot for anything above 850W-ish, so it won't even be much of an upgrade in terms of wattage unless I play a lot. I've been searching online all day, but I'm finding a mix of results. Lots of people say that piggy-tailing is fine, whereas others say that it is not.
hmm interesting. i was mining 3 cards off an evga 700 watt 80+ bronze for a few months and now it's causing my GFI to trip fairly consistently after 15 to 30 minutes, like something is damaged with the PSU from mining so long. wonder if it's something like this.
the cheap unknown brand psu always have this 6+6+2 spliting cable, while I never encountered the branded one have spliting cable other than the rail for the sata. even cheaper one, if it's a branded psu they simply only have 1 rail for 8(6+2) pcie. since they don't want you to use it to power something beyond it's capability :')
My 3070 trips my Seasonic psu, when on OC on RDR2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. Even on my work applications, Lumion, Vray etc it just hangs and restarts or just turns off and restart. I just used another 8x cable and all my problems were gone. My PSU is the Seasonic Focus 80+ gold, 750W.
I was worried about this because of my 3070, I had no idea if it would be safe to use the pigtail or if it would be better to upgrade my PSU. Thanks a lot brother
i got a sapphire nitro 6900xt with 2 8 pins and 1 6 pin. i currently have 1 piggyback for the 8 pin and 6 pin and one seperate for the other 8 pin. is this ok?
basically i'd just buy seasonic as i can, delta as well (but they just refuse to produce them, since they are more focused on commercial, rather diy market)
![[4K] Watch SpaceX Catch A Starship Rocket From Space!!! #IFT5](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pIKI7y3DTXk/mqdefault.jpg)
We were able to get a giveaway for an RTX 3080, Quest 2 and 5 x Vail VR keys! Get in with a chance here! Giveaway: httpslink.com/VAILVR_03
Entered!!
Is it international?
me watching this video with a RTX 270 super FE with a pigtail connector on it , card has a TDP 215 watts using a Corsair TX650 gold PSU !!!! been runing it this way for 1.5 years now .... no issues ... hmmm
Thank you! :-)
world wide?
I did this with my 3080 by pure instinct, and at some point I thought I was being over precautious. but decided not to change it. after this video I'm glad I did it that way.
And here's my 3080, the second 300+W GPU and about 3 years runtime (previous was custom bios Vega on water) and piggy back cable doesn't even feel warm when mining.
@@aciknaufal When installing my GPU it didn't even occur to me to use one cable piggybacked. To me it just seems counter intuitive. Also it juts looks better having two parallel cables running to the GPU.
@@lunchie80 How hard are you mining? LOL
If i may ask. Did you put 3 separate 8 pin connectors into your 3080? Could a 3080 run with only 2 8 pins?
@@gehtniemandenwasan8171 some 3080’s only have 2 8pin
I used two seperate cables for a 3070 build a while back and had to explain this to someone. Sure the tdp is lower than the recommendation (220) but is so close so better safe than sorry. Allows for overclocking headroom as well.
@Rusty Clark The split shouldn't matter in that case.
I tried it with a card using 250w and 280w and 0 diffrence. I think it might have to do with how good the psu is. I got mine since it should have been one of the best according to some psu tier list and other reviews I found.
@@tilburg8683 it also matter what the cards are doing, gaming often have some lulls in utilisation, they often don't run max wattage for the entirety of time, case cooling also factors in even, it wouldn't take much air exchange to cool the wires just enough, I'd they get a decrease in power pulled.
Mining however does have the ability to run your GPU to the ragged edge 100% of the time so it's not surprising a miner managed to do this.
Jay-Z two cents has also mentioned some time ago that he experienced some overclocks would work when using dedicated lines and fail on the pigtails.
So considering all this I'm definitely not using pigtails for my GPU.
And honestly even for lower than 225w cards I'd still just run dedicated lines if you can.
my rx6800xt uses 250w on COD and my evga 750w gold GQ is buzzing even doh its pluging in with 2 8pin cables (it are all single cables anyway)
and my friend has a rx6900xt and his is usining 255w in cod... and his corsaire rm750 gold is also buzzing, but less then mine but wierd eitherway...
@@reggiexp69 buzzing like coil whine? Because that can happen either way regardless of the cables (but can be caused by high ripple current)
For mining, I totally agree. If you're not going to undervolt (please undervolt) do not use pig-tails. But if you're using your PC for normal gaming, etc., then the pigtail PCIe used on the Corsair HX would not have melted. If those are the stock cables, they use HCS (high current system) terminals, which are rated for 11A each, with 16g wire. Unfortunately, this is not true of Seasonic cables and is why they suggest not using the pigtails. Seasonic uses standard Mini-Fit Jr., which are rated at 9A each, and a thinner 18g wire.
This is good advice. Many people tend to "cheap-out" in the power supply, and forget to check this potentially dangerous scenarios. Also, even when you explain how the heat can destroy the wire, other factors do help to that as well, like a poor ventilated case or living in a hot area which bring the case internal temps up fast... all end up adding to the "thermal death".
PSU makers should just nuke this design to avoid confusion. It simply is better to connect individual cables onto the GPU since forever.
@ExalyThor but it has issues when gpu needs to drastically generate stuff, i had problems wirh my rx7900xtx crashing in all games that had 120fps+ or rendered much terrain, it worked when i warmed up gpu and used it for some time, but when turning pc on and shortly after that going to game i kept having the issue, adding another 8pin as single instead of using the 8pin to 2x8pin, solved problem
@@amouu_T-rex when you say 2-8pin do you mean 2-8pin(6+2)?
@@ando7020 i mean 8pin that has two ends 6(2) and another 6(2) so from 8pin that goes into psu at the end u get 16pins, this made my rx7900 drivers crash in games, after switching to 3 seperate cables for 24pin (3x8 (6+2 x 3) instead of 2 (1 with 16pin end) and 8 pin (6-2) all problems disappeared
No, its not cpu cable, its pcie cable, i know how to read
@@amouu_T-rex thanks for the prompt response, having said that I didn't want to offend you, I'm going to assemble my first build and I didn't quite understand one thing, almost all power supplies even those of 1000w or higher, have pcie cables for the 8pin gpu divided into 6+2 (I read on the net that only the single 8pins have 150w as specification), now do you think I should buy 3 single pcie 8pin cables separately? do the single 8pin and the "8pin(6+2) have the same specification? sorry for my english but i'm not a native speaker
@@ando7020 ah oki, no problem buddy, yes, they have same specifications 8 and (6+2), but remember that there is cpu cable, use the (6+2)pcie one, i know u know it for sure, but they are identical and they have 8 pin too on psu
And try buying psu that have minimum 3x seperate pcie cables (6+2) to be sure it works well, tho i think all 1000watt psu have a minimum of 3x pcie 8 pin, but check in description to be sure, and buy gold/platinum u can save some money on the energy too, cuz the ones with high ratings have (gold/platinum) more stable energy consume, when they dont need energy they consume less than for example bronze 1000watt psu, they are more energy efficient, dont try to save money and buy cheaper psu, cuz on long run the electrical bills will be higher and u will have shittier and more unsafe psu
AND CHECK Pc case, often on sites there isnt written how many cm of psu fit in it, i almost bought a big pc case that wouldnt fit my PSU, cuz my psu was too long
Gold/platinum psu *some money save on electrical bills plus u are sure there wont be issue*
Pc case psu maximum length
Goodluck with ur build
2:20 it probably melted because there was a bad connection to the video card! I have seen electrical wiring with lose connections, the things melt, i don't really thing its a problem with the pigtail cables, but i might be wrong.
Seasonic explained why they recommend not using pigtails for 225+ watts. And you say that you don't think it's a problem? Maybe you should give a good explanation other than a "bad connection"
@@aciknaufal The thing is, the wire isn't that slim, there are multiple wires, one wire isn't gonna send 225w all by its self, we use pigtails in electrical sockets, it doesn't melt if done correctly, the only reason it would get hot is if there is a bad connection to the card or to the pigtails, or the wire being to small, but the wire doesn't seem to be the problem, they usually do a "pigtail" inside the power supply (depending on the power supply and rails) but they soldered wires in a bundle, so technically its the same as a "pigtail", this is just how I see things.
@@shadowhalo123 They are probably saying that to cover themselves, maybe their pigtail connections are poorly done or get worn, that's why maybe why they recommend to not pushing it too far ? I mean i'm not an expert ^^
@@snsayy i mean ...while you can push 225 w through 3 18awg wires I wouldn't do that...maybe through 16 awg , that's better, but if I have the option to run 2 separate cables to the you why not...heck I even do 2 * 6 pin into 8 pin so I can share the current through 6 wires instead of 3
@@snsayy trust me ..if you buy a seasonic everything is of high quality..the dudes know what they are doing...but I prefer server PSU xD look. Into delta psu , they make a sweet 1200w psu for 1U form factor..in fact I'm going to convert it for desktop use
One more thing I would like to add, is that it is not just a matter of power consumption over the cable being dangerous. Using different 8pin cables means also that, on good PSU, you will be using different +12V rails, de facto balancing the power consumption of the power supply. The power delivery would be more steady with less fluctuation and with the PFC working better and faster with more stability.(better response time when the hardware asks for more power).
I agree, I had a Corsair "piggy back cable" melt! Fortunately Corsair honored the warranty and sent me a refurbished unit for my AX1000.
Just to clarify, this was for an EVGA RTX 3090 FTW. And it melted just like the cable you displayed in your video, right at the connection point between the PSU and modular cable.
they shouldnt have given you a used PSU thats actually horrible service for them to do that and thats very unprofessional they should've given you a brand new one for replacement so dont bank on how long this PSU you have to last
@@BurkeSchneider
Hi, did your melting happen when you used 1 standard cable (1x8) and 1 daisy chained cable (2x8)?
We tend to call them piggyback cables so not to confuse with pigtail cables with a connector one end and bare wires the other
It would be great if PSU manufacturers include the wire size included into their spec pages.
why it fits into the spec.
You get what you pay for when it comes to psu.
@@nicmonberg5974 At least I know the capability of the wires. Don't care the price, as long as the public knows how much it can deliver the power.
I've been dealing with a 6900xt and random shut downs. I went from an 850w psu to a 1200w psu thinking it was shear power spikes. Welp, still had shutdowns. Came across a reddit poster that linked this video, said they used 2 separate cables and it fixed their issue. I said "F" it I have nothing to lose. And it fixed my issue so far. My psu is a Be Quiet! platinum efficiency. The pcie cable isn't a standard looking piggy tail, but what looks like a 5 prong end into the psu that looks like it's merged into 2 pcie 6+2 ends as if it's 2 from the exit of the psu. Even so, it seems it might be a different style pigtail cable, OR even if it's actually 2 separate sets of cables coming out of the 1 socket on the psu, the 6900xt still draws too much power from the 1 socket setup they use. Just happy I tried it. I was close to going Intel and Nvidia and blaming it on my all AMD setup.
is it fine if i have two separate piggy tailed pcie 8pin cables or do they need to be singular? i understand that there needs to be two of them seperately 100% but i have two piggy tailed cables both connected exactly like the middle one at 2:45 is that ok? or are you saying we shouldnt use piggy tailed cables period? please answer
Thanks Bryan, I just upgraded to a 3070Ti and on the back of this video have swapped out my pigtail pci-e cable for two single-plug pci-e cables coming straight from the PSU!
I have a 3080ti ftw and bought an 850w psu. The psu only comes with 2 power cables. Both of them are pigtail. The gpu has three 8pin connectors. Do I need a new psu or can I use the pigtail?
well yes and no. splitting the cable is all fine with quality reputable power supplies. however, the ridiculous power draw of 3080 and above makes it less safe when overlocking
The powersupply can (potentially) push through 10000W and it wouldn't matter. The gpu draws what it draws. Read above this comment. He got shit right.
It's only a problem when you don't have a single 12v rail. I have a Vega64 Liquid Cooled and it can use up to 400watts depending on scenario. Most of the time it's well over 350watts under load. I have had it "piggy tailed" on a 750watt power supply with a single 12v rail since 2017 without any issues.
No performance issues either from doing so. Card is overclocked to 1800mhz core and 1100mhz memory with a slight undervolt.
I did this with my platinum corsair PSU. no difference but gives me peace of mind that my 2080 Ti is getting enough juice especially since it's overclocked.
I would recommend following this advice with the normal 3070 as well. My EVGA 850+ gold exploded last week on a piggytail connected 3070. While I can't be %100 certain that this was the issue, both I and my pc repair guy agreed it was the most likely problem since the PSU was only a couple months old.
Wtf dude don't scare me like that I am still gonna piggytail rtx 4070 super becuz I have no money left to buy new psu and I have no option but to use it mine is corsair cv650 btw
@@farazsiddiqui1312 rip PSU.... But for real though since that post I've tried three other Corsair PSUs and not a single one of them has lasted longer than 3 months. So either I have the most amazing lemon attracting bad luck ever or Corsair PSUs are not the most well made of devices. I switched to EVGA it's worked perfectly for almost 18 months now no issues. I don't think I'll be getting another course or PSU lol
I have a Corsair RM1000x power supply paired with a RTX 3090 FE. I bought the Corsair 12 pin cable instead of using the adapter included with the GPU. The cable helps cable management to be a lot easier since I don't have to use two separate cables. One end is 12 pin connecting to the gpu and the other end is split into two 8 pin connecting to the power supply. So far I haven't had issues with the computer. Hopefully, the one cable holds up.
No issues running RTX 2080 OC'd to 1950 MHz with piggyback for quite some time. I had it configured with a single cable for each slot, but with my last PC cleanup decided to try this out and it didn't give a single issue for the many months I pushed it nearly daily.
it ended well? i have a new rtx 2060 and dont want to mess the things up
I have never used those pig tail cables. they just look awful when plugged in, imo. looks way cleaner to just use one 8-pin per cable.
I actually just use extensions, but off the "main" line of any pig tail PCI-E cable to hide those cables.
If I got time, I straight up have custom cables made if the PSU didn't have straight PCI-E cables.
I use it but I also use extended PET sleeved cables so it doesnt really you know
Sometimes you don't really have a choice. The Seasonic M12II only came with pigtailed cables.
I've never done this, always used seperate cables, thing comes from understanding current load for a given wire size. It blows my mind seeing many people and so called pros using piggy back cables. You'll get cleaner more stable voltage supply. And will proberley fix some issues people have with crashing under load or overclocking
Bro you're biased
Great video. I've always perferred to use multiple-single coneector cables over a multi-connector-single cable.
Just in the process of building my computer - and I was stuck till I came across your video. Thank you so much for the explanation on what and what not to do! I just subscribed!
What if there are 3 of those but my PSU only has 2 cables with 2 8 pins each??? WTF do they sell it with only 2 cables if their product is not for low end cards.
I have a Corsair AX 860 Platinum PSU, along with 850RM Gold PSU. Neither of them had enough single 8 pin cables to run for an 8+8 GPU connection.
When I bought my 3090 with 3x 8-pin PCI-E, I didn't bother to route an extra PCI-E cable through my system because I had already routed everything and it was looking clean. So I piggytailed the 2nd cable. It has bothered me for a while, and I've been trying to reassure myself that it's probably going to be okay.
But thanks to your video and a few other commenters here, I just spent 40 minutes rerouting cables and adding the 3rd cable. So thanks for that.
Be careful with with 3070 some models are above 225. My ftw 3 3070 has a stock power draw of 270 watts. I use 2 dedicated cables though.
My 3060ti uses 250w and sometimes a bit more. I think its not uncommon for 3070s to use more than 270w.
I had a fire inside a computer a few weeks ago, due to a SATA power cable that had some dirt or corrosion inside it.
I never gave it an extra thought, one evening my daughter pointed out that it smelled (smelled like burned electronics) funny, thought it was my AC so i turned it off.
Everything seemed fine. The pc was turned off (im so happy i did that). Next day the smell came again, and a minute later the pc was blowing smoke out the back.
Pulled the cables, brought it out on my balcony and opended the side panel. Small fire in the 5.25" bay as thats where the cable where tucked in.
Im glad i was home.. I was able to reuse most of it, but the ash/black stuff of the insulation has covered some parts and they smell. Gotten better now after i cleaned it.
I thru away the case and the PSU. But it really got me thinking!
So can I use 1 cable + 1 pigitail cable to fill all the 3 PCIe slots on an rtx 3080 strix? Or should I use 3 cables? I don't have an extra PCIe cable and Corsair doesn't sell them separately in my country. I have the Corsair rm850x 2021 edition.
I am right in the same situation as you what did you do ? Did you need 3 separate cables or 1 + 1 with pigtail was just fine ? for 3080
Pigtails I did for years, but I switched to 2 separate cables now. 2 separate gives more stable fps, I noticed.
But my 3080 12 gb has 3 VGA SPOTS, 3!
Does this advice apply when using 1 pigtail and 1 non pigtail to cover the 3 spots? (a clean looking install right?)
I doubt it, that should supply about 500 watts as in most powersupplies the vga 1 and 2 spots are at separate levels.
Actually, it is down to cable specification. So it is Seasonic specific. Other manufacturers, are not necessarily need to use single cable, if they use a cable that can carry a full 300-400W power. The reason Seasonic recommend that, is because you split 300W burden to 2 cables, let's say, 150W each? Take or give some.
Never had the problem but then again only use Corsair Rx PSU
Can I cut the pig tails off and use electrical tape or sleeves on them? Or can I just use the pigtails from the separate cables and tuck the rest back in the case?
I have an RM850x power supply which is supposedly supposed to be good. When I first installed my RTX 3080 my computer would randomly power off during load. I changed from the using the combined leads to separate leads and I've had ZERO issues since around Late Nov 2020.
hi, do you use 2 8 pins and pigtail for the 3rd 8pin connector or do you use 3 separate 8 pin connectors? my corsair rm850x only come with 2 pcie cables both has pigtails sticking out
very good topic and a not so discussed one over the internet. when i purchased my first seasonic psu that piece of information was precious , dont really know why others brands dont include that either.
Cheers
I think that sone psus can run it just fine and others like seasonic or corsair can't. I used the 6+2 and either 6 or another 6+2 from the same cable for a 280w card and 250w and never had issues. I tried 2 seperate cables but they didn't change any oc results either for me.
I had to do some googling around about this a few months ago. After running my 2070 Super with one cable for a couple months.
It was scary to find out, but thankfully I'm within the cutoff. But next time I do a major clean and config I'll be adding a second cable in just to be safe.
It's been almost a year straight on this single cable though, not a single issue in sight. Ran a 1660ti a year beforehand, and a 570 a year prior.
I had R9 290X, with piggytail connector I didnt notice any heating of cables. Perhaps 225W seasonic claims is a bit too much conservative statement? And that PSU is still with me and working. No visible deformations on PCIE power cables. Im using Fractal integraM 750W, single rail design.
Me who has a gpu without pcie power: *ofc I don’t need these!*
My secondary system's gfx card is so old not only does it not need a pcie connector, it doesn't even need a cooling fan! (HD4350). ;-p Needless to say it's not used for PC gaming; only stuff like running Turbotax since it requires win10 and I refuse to infect my main system with that. Also use it for retro gaming like MAME and 16bit consoles.
Loser
W A Not everyone can afford, find, use, or even want to upgrade to anything more powerful than what they already have.
Better laggy than sorry
First world problems...
I've got a such old PSU which is Thermaltake Smart RGB 600W and it only has 1 pcie cable which splits into two x8. It can deliver 504W through it and in case of using with a pigtail like in your video, I don't see any problems because it can delivers up to 504W. Of course the safest way is the upgrade, but in some cases, it can be done with the specs of PSU.
I have a motherbaord with 8+4 Eps, and an RTX 3070 ti with 3x8 pin. My Seasonic Focs 750w Platinum PSU has only a total of 4 8pin CPU/PCIe connectors. What do I do? Should I get a new PSU at this point?
The very same thing happened to my cable, I can't even pull my cable out from the PSU. Connector already stuck inside, managed to pull it out after many tries. GPU being used is 3090 Ti.
Excellent video. Pretty conclusive. I just installed an 850W 80+ Platinum be quiet! Straight Power 11 PSU. It has three PCIE connectors on the PSU and includes three PCIE cables. However, two of them are single 6+2 connections and one is a dual 6+2 connector. I'm using an RTX 3070 Ti from Gigabyte with a peak power rating of 290W. The GPU requires three 6+2. I'm inclined to use all three cables. I've emailed be quiet! to see what they say. But your video confirms my inclination.
Hi, What about a a piggy tail cable that is rated at 600 Watts and has the following specs: Guage = Standard 18AWG Material = Tin-coating copper, #Wires/Diameter(mm) = 34*0.178 Max Load Current(Amps) = 8 Amps.
I was told by the company that I would have no worries running a 3080Ti off this cable. What do you think? It's a specific cable that is built just for my PSU and Dell System and will not work with other systems or PSU systems. They also build a special cable for the corsair and EVGA Power supply units. The PSU in my machine is 1300 watts.
Specs of other cables are: Guage = Non-standard 18AWG, Material = Copper wire, #Wires/Diameter(mm) (16-26)*0.12, Max Load Current(Amps) = 3 Amps.
I'm asking this because I really have no choice with my system that only has 3x8 pin connectors on the PSU. The one 3080Ti that I have in my case has 2 separate cables going into it but I would like to add another 3080Ti using the cable I mentioned above (The 8 amp one)
As long as your wire gauge can support the power, a piggy back cable is fine, however; most power supply manufacturers do not use a wire that support full power supply wattage. Example: a 12v 350w draw on your power supply will require a single wire that can pull 29Amps, so as long as your piggy back wire is at least 10AWG you will be fine, and I am pretty sure that most power supplies have only 16AWG (even higher), which only supports 10A @ 125w of power. Having 3+ cables in the PCIe connector does not make it support more wattage/power as each wire only supports 10A, it will still get hot when it reaches peak power draw of 10A, this is why the cables burn. Check your power supplies wire gauge and go for the lowest AWG you can afford, or just use 2 PCIe connectors.
I have a Seasonic gold 650W and use two separate cables to power a 6700XT just to be safe. But it does make the case more cluttered and i am not good at routing the cables well.
That is one of the reasons why the 12VO is a good idea - the connectors are rated way higher.
The PCIe spec say that you can only use the 75W from the board, + 75W from a 6 pin + 150W from an 8Pin - 2x 8Pin is currently NOT specified, so 300W is already the specified limit.
Those limits are not there cause of the powersupply, the card or the wire, but the connectors them self. The mini-molex are rated for 75/150W respectively and connectors are only rated for a few cycles of pluging in and out again. The connector getting dirty, corroding or not being seated correctly can increase the resistance and the whole thing will get very hot then.
In most cases 12v is commoned together in the PSU and also the GPU, there is no point plugging in multiple connectors with a splitter.
Hi brian, love to watch your channel, hope you are doing well in these hard times. I'm just wondering whats your recommendation is for Xeon CPU with AVX instruction support? because one of my fav games requires AVX to run, now I'm currently using x3450. Cheers
Hmmmmm have a Vega 64 that draws 295W.... 🤔 I wonder how it’s set up. Better check.
Update... Damn I’m good!
I do this on a 250w card and did it on a 280w card. No issues but I do have a good psu so that does probably help.
Two single cables going to my 850W RMi PSU for my Vega 64 also for each of the 8 pin connectors.
I think it needs to be a hard spec to only have one 8-pin per cable (150W) or an 8 pin and a 6-pin (75W) but not two 8 pins
I have a 1080 Ti that runs up to about 300W max. It never so much as hiccupped on one cable with 2x6+2 cable.
tnx for the tip , i ordered 6700xt for 330 euros sale price :) i have 800 psu gold , it have 4 pcie cables with pig tails , good to know to use separate cables for my 6700xt card when arrives
How many wires to my 3090? It has three connectors... can I pigtail one of them? Which one?
Generally manufacturers put on 3 8 pin pcie connectors on high end GPUs so that people are forced to use two separate power cable. So you can use the pigtail cable for one of your connectors
@@dmitc01 Right now the middle one is pigtailed... Been running it like this for a few months now.. No issues... But this video has me thinking
@@tomjones2860 you should be go to go.
Take Seasonic 225w per 8pin. 3090's can draw crazy power, I believe some AIB cards can draw north of 500w short term on some of the OC'ed bios'. 225W X 2 = 450 plus 75 from the slot, 525. Not a lot of wiggle room if the GPU boosts its tits off.
Use 3 ..if the manufacturer put 3 of those it means that the required current of that card has to be delivered by 9 cables ..not 6
So for the 3080 TI, I should buy three individual 8-PIN GPU cables for best results?
I wished I had seen this video 5 min ago. I had an issue with a rx 6800 and my corsair rm850x power supply has 2 of those pigtail connectors. Safe to say that a combination of basic common knowledge and lack of forethought I only used one pcie cable for the graphics card which is enough for low res games but crashes on hi res ones. Had a guy point it out to me to use 2 cables instead of one.
My last card was an RX580 so I had no experience with a card with two power ports
I'm getting a RX 7900 XT in less than 24 hours now, and I was wondering about this as well, I just installed my 850w PSU and it came with a bunch of 8 pin piggy back cables.
I'm not sure what the total load on a single piggy back cable is, some videos says 250 watts will go through it, some says 288 watts.
My 7900 XT Pulse has a TBP of 370 watts, so I'd have to get 3 cables in IF it is overclocked, but this is more of a budget high end that isn't for extreme OC.
1 Piggy back and 1 single 8 pin (250 + 150), for 3 slots might suffice so long as the GPU isn't running 24/7 like someone is mining it.
It's 400 watt connection or more, and the PCI-e slot gives 75 watts as well.
Something to lookout for is cheaper psu's will in general only have 18 awg pcie cables rather than the higher current rated 16 gauge.
Is it completely safe to use RTX 3070 with a pigtail? Usually RTX 3070 consumes 220w but the Asus RTX 3070 TUF Gaming OC Edition which I own draws 240W max. I always undervolt my CPU and GPU and by undervolting it consumes less than 200 usually stays 180w and with FPS cap of 144 it reduces further to 150w. So can I use a pigtail cable? Actually I want less of a cable mess.
Just learned about this today. I hope I didn't destroy my 3080 since my PSU killed itself already from the single 8 pin pigtail overdraw. Going to get an Sf750 tomorrow with two 8 pins and hope everything works out 😭
I've been running my 3090 with 2 cables with a pigtail on one of them. After watching this video I ordered another cable. I also hope I didn't kill my gpu.
Theoretically, an 8 pin psu connector can supply power up to 288 watts depending on the molex cable configuration. But basing on the standard config, it could only be up to 216 watts. Could be possible that the GPU killed your PSU due to too much power drawn out from that 8 pin power connector.
Yo, almost been a year, is your GPU okay?
Hi Brian. I have a 6700xt from powercolor. I power this with a evga supernova 550w. Should I use two cables? Normally with radeon chill it is pretty tame power wise and i usually keep the numbers under control. Thanks and also thank you for the video.
Change PSU my dude ... That 6700xt will kill that psu in no time
Can i use the pigytail instead of the main one ? The 12 cable just doesnt want the main one. Ive tried with both cables im using. So 2 cables, no main connected on one but the pigytail
Feels good to know I was already doing the Safer connection. I dont even like Y-Splitters because it just doesnt make sense to me. "how is it safe to use these and not expect issues with melting"
:D 14 years of IT Support, never knew that this was the "Recommended" method :D
this video helped me a lot, there's a big misinformation roaming around about this, I was in panicking thinking that I would have to change my power suppy, but now I can rest assure that I can use the pigtail on my 3070 220w
Awg cables are rated for 300w with the piggy Tail, I think this need to be addressed more
Awg 16?
Weird thing is though from every massive problem I have seen, its always the modular connection point, the gauge should be fine, though what I feel is the actual connection points are where the problems come from. Perhaps not large enough?
@@techyescity maybe that's the problem with flat modular cables
I'm using a pigtail 8 pin PCI-E power cable on 2080ti. 275watts tdp and it's alright. I am using since it's sfx case, i have to save some space.
If you are using 3080 or something above 300watts ofc you have to be ready for that power draw with your psu. No surprise here.
I have run my Seasonic Platinum 1000W through it's paces for the last 5-6 years, and it certainly wasn't new when I got it. It was running overclocked 290xs and a 4820K,then a R7 1700, now a 3900x with a Radeon VII, have not experienced any shut downs due to the power supply as far as I can tell. Now I would feel the point about fried cables is invalid, if people weren't complaining about fried cables when running 290x's, which have a 290W TDP (lol ironic) on a 8+6 pin connector, on piggy back, which I did up until my upgrade. If people were documenting that then I would say your point is valid and something I would consider doing. But I'm on the fence.
why corsair are the best, the gauge cables on their psu is rated for higher current flow. so therefor you can use one pci cable with piggy back to run high voltage cards. cheap psu uses lower gauge wiring and you can feel the flex in the cables to give you a understand how cheap or quality a psu
So does that explain why my Zotac RTX 2070 AMP Extreme GPU is causing the ARGB lights to flicker whenever I am overclocking and gaming??? Using a Cooler Master Masterwatt 750W 80 Plus Bronze semi-fanless modular PSU.
I got a good deal on an Aorus RTX 2070 Super and I use 2 separate cables, just in case... thought about using the piggytail but I rather be on the safe side. Thanks for the video!
thanks, this video really help me. got decent PSU but lack of PCIE cable. after watch this i can run dual GPU with daisy chain cable safely (GTX 1070 Ti (180 W) + RTX 3070 (220 W))
I was running a pigtail on a 3070 gigabyte Aorus master. Not a Ti. It actually draws 280-300 watts. I’ve seen it go up to 305 watts a couple times before, when the boost clock ramps way up loading into a game and the GPU hasn’t fully warmed up yet. Sometimes I would see these weird microflickers in game textures. Almost like when you try to film a TV with an old camera and you see the little dark flickers….kinda like that except it was little dark flashing artifacts around certain textures in games, barely noticeable but it was wierd. Even heard small changes in the coil whine pitch when the artifacts would appear and disappear. Then I read about running 2 separate cables. Thank god I didn’t fry my video card
I just made up an 8 pin GPU harness, to use in a semi modular OCZ PSU given to me that I have been using with a 6 pin GPU and did not come with an 8 pin harness. This is for the some day I might get hold of an 8 pin GPU. The 2 components I used was the 8 pin harness taken off a dead non modular ATNG pos PSU and what is actually a CPU power splitter (V shaped) harness that I bought from Newegg. The sole reason I bought it was bc the connector design matched the one needed to plug into the PSU. It was just a matter of me taking one of the branches of the "V" I needed, then moving all but one of the black wires/pins and all of the yellow wires/pins in that CPU connector. (This is why we read about some folks shorting things-they confuse a CPU power connector with GPU to PSU connector-their wire layout (ground and power or black and yellow) is the inverse of each other essentially.) Once moving the right wires to the right positions on what was a CPU meant connector, it was just a matter of soldering yellow to yellow and black to black (had to paint 1 yellow from the CPU connector black to match the 3 yellows and 5 blacks used for the GPU power cable). Then heat shrink on all wires (and one each on all the yellows and all the blacks); test with multimeter to ensure proper continuity to the right places/pins, finding next to zero resistence on each wire and now all set. Much harder to do with all black wires but easily doable with yellow (12V) and black (ground) wires to work with.
Ive always used 2 cables instead of a pigtail, just made more sense. The Vega 64 was really picky when oced if u had a daisy chain.
Same here when I had my 5700xt first card i owned that needed dual 8 pins. I did not like the idea or the look of having just 1 cable powering so for the hell of it scents I can also fit it in my case I bought 1 2nd power supply dedicated to the GPU alone and now I feel its getting nice clean power with its 2 cables and yes i know a 2nd power supply is overkill but my first main power supply was from when this system was a lower end build 500w and did not want to rewire anything so 2nd power supply was out of sheer laziness lol
I had to upgrade my PSU from Corsair 650W to seasonic gold 750W because of my Vega 64 before was crashing constantly now not a single problem
Vega was really good at exposing who was fibbing about their power circuitry ratings.
hi, can i use the piggy tail with my coolermaster sfx850 for my 3070ti rog strix that requires 3x8 pin connector but my psu only has 2 8 pin cable , so should i use the piggy tail ( daisy chain idk) or should i buy another cable from cooler master?
Thanks for this video Tech Yes City. I had the single cable connected. Now I have 2 cables connected to my psu that go to the GPU with one pair of each. Thanks for warning us. I thought the single cable would be sufficient and so like this video tells, it isn't. I had no huge instability issues, but there were sometimes weird instabilities that I couldn't understand why they were happening. I'm typing this from the same machine.
Been using seperate cable since I was using 1080 Ti, nothing good come from pig tail, it made my pc restart while playing games with high power draw.
If you had three 8 pin connectors could you plug two pci-e cables and use the piggy back cable from the second cable for the third 8 pin connector?
yes
I just let my 5700 go nuts and it didn't really make it past 200 Watts, sooo... 🤷🏻♂ Not necessary at that level of GPUs, I suppose, as Seasonic is speaking of abover 225W. - Perhaps if it was an XT-version, then I suppose it might start becoming necessary, but I've read that they can even handle up to 300 Watts well, at least with a good quality 8-wire cable.
Well if they didn’t want me to use them then why didn’t they give me enough single connector ones
im a little confused. new to the pc game. so basically the cables from the power supply the pci cables. i have two plugged into the gpu is that not right? or should i buy like a adapter? im so confused
Just built my new pc and have a 3070ti with 850w superflower leadex iii. I have two separate pcie cables going to it but I'm using the piggyback plug instead of the main plugs since they are two short. Is this OK or should I get a new power supply?
So what if I only have two cables, both with pig-tails. but my GPU has three 8-pin connectors? Do I leave one of the 8-pin slots open? I still technically meet the power standards (300-350w card) and if each cable is capable of handling at least 200-250w, then I should be good enough, even if I have to piggyback one of the connectors?
A bit scary but I’m using an rtx 3090 (vision, only 2x 8pin)with an pigtail cable and an 650w Corsair psu since a year and had no problems at all.
Good that I’ve seen this video I’m gonna order a 1000w power supply today and don’t use my setup till it’s arrived.
Thank you
I tried using 2 separate 8 pin cables for a r9 fury but it wouldn't boot. It only worked when I used the pig tail. Any ideas why that would be?
So what about 3 slot gpu’s ? I have a 3090 I just got and my PSU came with three pcie cables that are the pig tail ones … should I use all three ? Or two and use one of the pigtails ? Also I have a sleeved extension kit , I’m super nervous about this and have been doing research and can’t find a definitive answer anywhere … please help …
Browsed this youtube as I have some limited PSU PCIE connections. The recommendations seems to be right. With a TDP of 290, a 3070ti cannot be pig tailed. I plan to buy a 3080ti and some did have 2x8 pin configuration which is bad idea since the configuration requires 150 + 150 + 75 or 375 watts as against a TDP of 350 watts. Very close from the standard limits notwithstanding the fact there are inefficiencies in the connections itself, i.e. MB PCIE slot actual draw could only be 50 or 60 watts depending on the quality of the PCIE slot. The only assurance I can get is that the PSU 8 pin power connector can safely provide 216 watts (or even a max of 288 watts depending on the molex configurations) though the cable wires might only be meeting the 175 power draw standards (read: overheated cable wires). So for a 350 watt TDP card, better choose one with 3 x 8pin connectors though I wonder why they did not implement a minimum of 2x8 pin plus 1x6pin (450 watts power is enough) connectors for 350 W TDP.
Everyone: "piggyback"
Me, an intellectual: "daisychain"
Hi. I have rtx 2070 super, it uses around 210w and i am using pigtail cable. Should I seperate it or it is ok for my card?
Hi. Last year, I bought the Lian Li SP750, which only came with 2 PCI-E cables, each of which have two 8 pin (6 plus 2) connectors. I currently have a GTX 960, which only needs 6 pins, so until now, I have been using one connector on one cable. However, I'm just after buying the MSI RTX 3080 Gaming Z Trio 12Gb, which requires three 8 pin connectors. Is it alright to use both connectors (piggy-tailed) on one cable, and one connector on the other cable? If not, can I buy an extra PCI-E cable specifically for the SP750, or maybe buy an adapter for SATA to PCI-E or something, or will I have to buy a new PSU altogether? I don't want to buy a new PSU, as I've only had my current one less than a year, and I have the Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini, so I need to go SFX, which means that I'll be paying a lot for anything above 850W-ish, so it won't even be much of an upgrade in terms of wattage unless I play a lot. I've been searching online all day, but I'm finding a mix of results. Lots of people say that piggy-tailing is fine, whereas others say that it is not.
hmm interesting. i was mining 3 cards off an evga 700 watt 80+ bronze for a few months and now it's causing my GFI to trip fairly consistently after 15 to 30 minutes, like something is damaged with the PSU from mining so long. wonder if it's something like this.
the cheap unknown brand psu always have this 6+6+2 spliting cable, while I never encountered the branded one have spliting cable other than the rail for the sata.
even cheaper one, if it's a branded psu they simply only have 1 rail for 8(6+2) pcie. since they don't want you to use it to power something beyond it's capability :')
If i have a 3 X 8 pin 3080 GPU do i need 3 separate cables from PSU to GPU or using 1 cable + 1 cable + pigtail is just fine ?
But what if the card has 3 8 pin sockets? o.O
My 3070 trips my Seasonic psu, when on OC on RDR2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. Even on my work applications, Lumion, Vray etc it just hangs and restarts or just turns off and restart. I just used another 8x cable and all my problems were gone. My PSU is the Seasonic Focus 80+ gold, 750W.
I was worried about this because of my 3070, I had no idea if it would be safe to use the pigtail or if it would be better to upgrade my PSU.
Thanks a lot brother
i got a sapphire nitro 6900xt with 2 8 pins and 1 6 pin. i currently have 1 piggyback for the 8 pin and 6 pin and one seperate for the other 8 pin. is this ok?
im getting 6800 XT, so insted cables that i get with gpu...is it ok to use one i get with PSU...be quiet straight power 11 ?
basically i'd just buy seasonic as i can, delta as well (but they just refuse to produce them, since they are more focused on commercial, rather diy market)
Thanks for showing how to clean components with multipurpose spray. I was able to fix a friends mobo using what I had learned.
Is an 8pin that is 6+2 considered pigtailed?